I have a background in research and interests in the fields of spirituality, education, the nature of illness, experience of healing and the global spread of hospice-palliative care.

During a wide-ranging professional life I have held the positions of parish priest, high school headteacher, hospital chaplain, foster parent, youth leader and university-based senior research fellow.

These web pages were first constructed as a ‘calling card’ to help introduce myself to globally distributed activists within the field of hospice care and palliative care. As a founder member of the International Observatory on Ends of Life Care, located within what was then known as the Institute for Health Research at Lancaster University, my role was to help gather, collate and disseminate information, country by country, about the ways in which governments and nongovernmental organisations care for needy members of their populations in the twilight of their lives.

As a member of a ground-breaking observatory undertaking comparative studies in what is a still a developing and - in some countries - little known form of care, the aim was to help build trusting relationships with key people who would not only provide data but welcome visits and field studies. Hence an introductory blend of both professional and personal information that helped facilitate such rich collaborations and lasting friendships.

Now retired, I continue to offer a localised priestly ministry and combine my long-standing interest in the stories of people’s lives with the production of a village magazine, the development of a local history archive and the writing of an inclusive book about our village ‘Hensall Then and Now’. And after playing rugby to the ripe of age of 47, I now coach Selby Rugby Union Club’s Under 7s team which, to my delight, includes my grandson.

This community book charts the patterns of life in a rural North Yorkshire (UK) village. Sources include maps, deeds, churches registers and school log books. More than 80 authors have contributed articles and over 800 photographs are included.